2000 Maniacos interview (2015)

Andrew: Like
most of us, watching VHS tapes of Mad Max ripoffs, The Big Bird Cage
and a thousand Rambo and Platoon clones. Most of them, I had no idea
they were made in the Philippines until I saw Weng Weng in For Y'ur
Height Only - that was my first conscious glimpse into the Filipino B
Film universe. Then I opened a cult video store here in Brisbane
called Trash Video and was able to join the dots to make up a much
grander picture - the Cleopatra Wong films, Eddie Romero, Cirio
Santiago, Enter The Ninja, Silip, Ramon Zamora, Dolphy and Chiquito,
Palito - and hundreds and hundreds of Filipino films later, I don't
believe the obsession will ever end.

Domingo: From
where comes the idea to shoot a documentary film about Weng Weng?

Andrew: From
a dream, believe it or not! I dreamt I was in Manila with a camera in
hand, calling the Cultural Centre for information: "My name is
Andrew Leavold, I'm an Australian filmmaker here in Manila to make a
documentary about Weng Weng…" I forgot all about the dream
until I was actually IN Manila with a camera in hand! Then I kept
shooting until I discovered his real story…and kept shooting…and
after seven long years, I had enough footage to be able to piece a
narrative together.

Domingo: To
somebody who don’t know him, how do you describe Weng Weng and his
importance in popular Filipino cinema?

Andrew: For
starters, he is an incredible person - a poor kid from the slums who,
through a combination of hard work and pure luck, became one of the
most famous Filipino faces at home and abroad. He performed his own
dangerous stunts, was trained as a real-life secret agent, and in his
home town was even considered a living Saint. As far as his
importance to Filipino cinema goes, it's harder to argue, however his
film For Y'ur Height Only was the single biggest film export at the
time, which definitely paved the way for other Filipino producers to
sell their films abroad. And if you look at the broader canvas of
Filipino film, he sits somewhere near the middle, connected to many
important figures such as Dolphy, Lito Lapid, Imelda and Ferdinand
Marcos.

Domingo: How
fits Weng Weng into the Pinoy cinema? Is it still famous these after
all these years?

Andrew: Anyone
between the ages of 35 and 50 will no doubt remember him from their
childhood, even if they need a little nudge. The younger generations
of Filipinos are now starting to rediscover him via Youtube as a
little hero - someone who took on the might of Hollywood with a film
one-hundredth of the budget of a James Bond film. More than a
national embarrassment, these days he's looked at as more of a
subversive figure, certainly worth of Pinoy Pride.

Domingo: Before
Jackie Chan, Weng Weng was doing his own stunts with little to none
security. Was it the usual way to shoot action in Philippines?

Andrew: Back
in the Sixties, the Filipino stuntman was the best in the world. They
didn't need safety nets or wires. I remember Danny Rojo, one of the
top stunt coordinators, telling me he used to do leap from a
two-storey building onto two banana leaves! I said, "Did you
ever worry about getting hurt?" "No, he replied, "we
were professionals." Accidents were, because the stunt guys were
so well trained. Eddie Nicart's group SOS Daredevils were the
greatest stunt guys of all, they moved together like a basketball
team. Like Danny Rojo, these guys didn't need nets or wires. Eddie
and his stunt guys trained Weng Weng to be a professional stuntman
and blackbelter, and from all accounts, he became a phenomenally good
performer. His tight rope walk between two buildings in The
Impossible Kid? No net beneath him. He was that good.

Domingo: In
how many movies did Weng Weng star? I think only 2 or 3 made it
internationally...

Andrew: So
far I have discovered fourteen films with Weng Weng as lead star or
cameo. As lead, six films. There are two westerns (Da Best In Da
West, D'Wild Wild Weng), four Agent 00 films, cameos in three Dolphy
comedies (Stariray, The Quick Brown Fox), and some early films with
Ramon Zamora and Dante Varona. Half of those fourteen films have
vanished without trace. I guess that means the Search will possibly
go on forever!

Domingo: Legend
says (at least here in Spain) Weng Weng was a sex machine but the
real thing was quite different, is it?

Andrew: From
what I understand, very different. Weng Weng was very shy in general,
and self-conscious about his size. He would fall in love with his
leading ladies, and they would go along with his flirtatious
behaviour as if it was a joke; to Weng Weng, however, it was far from
a joke. His biggest crush was on Nina Sara, his co-star in The
Impossible Kid - you can see them during the end credits kissing and
cuddling. From what I've been told, he never got over Nina. The
spirit was willing, but there was an equipment malfunction, if you
get my drift.

Domingo: Is
it true that Weng Weng worked as a secret agent?

Andrew: He
certainly TRAINED as a secret agent - we verified that mystery via
Eddie Nicart, Dante "Boy" Pangilinan and Weng Weng's
brother. And the training was more than a publicity stunt, as he was
properly trained in firearms, parachuting, infiltration missions etc.
What's not certain is whether he went on actual missions or not. But
he was definitely issued a blue paratroopers' uniform, custom made
25mm handgun, and a tiny machine gun - you can see them in For Y'ur
Height Only.

Domingo: How’s
possible an actor so profitable ended his days in misery?

Andrew: You
should ask his producer Cora and Peter Caballes that question. It
appears they earned more than a million dollars from their films
starring Weng Weng, but he never saw more than pocket money for his
efforts. Some people will say that's the nature of show business, but
their treatment of Weng Weng was deplorable. You'll need to see the
documentary to find out exactly what happened to him, and it will
break your heart.

Domingo: Any
funny thing that happened shooting The Search for Weng Weng?

Andrew: My
co-producer Daniel Palisa and I would sit down at breakfast every
morning and write down the weird events from the day before. Funny,
strange shit never STOPPED happening. There was one time Dani and I
were trapped inside a fortified compound with Weng Weng's fellow
stunt guys, listening to their boss preaching the second coming of
dead action star Fernando Poe Jr. To break the tension we decided to
sing a karaoke version of Scorpions' "Wind Of Change"
immediately afterwards. The CEO then decided we were the Two
Apostles, here to spread the Word of Fernando Poe Jr to the rest of
the world…

Domingo: What’s
the strangest movie you’ve seen from Philippines? And your
favourite?

Andrew: One
of the weirdest was a film featuring Weng Weng in a brief appearance,
in a disco kung fu spy biker western called Legs... Katawan... Babae
(1981), starring the Filipino Village People, and directed by Weng
Weng's boss in For Y'ur Height Only, Tony Ferrer (the original
Filipino James Bond from the Sixties!). Seriously, it's as amazingly
bizarre as it sounds! Favourite was, is, and always will be For Y'ur
Height Only. You can't beat that film for sheer joy.

Domingo: After
The Search for Weng Weng, what’s next for you as a director?

Andrew: Maybe
another documentary on Filipino film weirdness, then hopefully some
narrative features. Dani and I are planning some real balls-out
action and horror films set in the Philippines - homages in a way to
our favourite Filipino B genres, but with a very 21st Century
attitude. I can't say any more at the moment, as we're still in the
pitching stage, and funding is yet to materialize. However I can
safely say that all roads seem to be leading back to Manilawood!

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HERR LEAVOLD

Andrew Leavold owned and managed Trash Video, the largest cult video rental store in Australia, from 1995 to 2010. He is also a film-maker, published author, researcher, film festival curator, musician, and above all, unrepentant and voracious fan of the pulpier aspects of genre cinema. His writing has been published globally in mainstream magazines, academic journals and underground cinema fanzines, for the last two decades.

Leavold toured the world with his feature length documentary The Search For Weng Weng (2013). His ten years of research on genre filmmaking in the Philippines formed the basis of Mark Hartley's documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (released internationally in 2010), on which Leavold is also Associate Producer, and he has since been recognized both in the Philippines and abroad as the foremost authority in his area of expertise, teaching Philippine film history at university level in Australia, the United States, and throughout the Philippines. Leavold teamed with Daniel Palisa to co-direct The Last Pinoy Action King (2015), both a feature-length documentary on the late Filipino action idol Rudy Fernandez, and a dissection of film royalty, politics, privilege, idolatry, and the Philippines’ pyramid of power.

He is currently shooting two new feature-length documentaries – The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (also with Palisa), the third in his Filipino trilogy, about erotic cinema under Marcos; and Pub, a history of the vibrant St Kilda music scene as told through its most outrageous progeny, Fred Negro. Both films are due for release in 2018.